Anthony Clark – Sports Nutrition & Weight Management

Week 11 – Comrades Buildup inc London Marathon

7 Weeks to Comrades

After 2 x 100+ mileage weeks we hit another mini cut back \ taper week before London Marathon weekend. The focus to replicate Manchester build up and nutrition loading for the race effort. The plan was to hit 5:30 – 5:35 pace for half way and then either switch to Comrades HR effort or push on for another PB attempt. Again running with comrades training partner Steve (Way) we hit 10 miles at about 56 mins and the half way point on schedule at 73 mins, after a very quick discussion we decided f*#k this and switched to Comrades effort (140 HR \ 6-6:15 m/m pace). Defiantly the correct decision as the second half felt very easy, even stopping 3/4 times to say hi to mates and a family kiss and cuddle stop, resulting in a 02:34:32 finish, legs feeling good Monday morning for 6 mile recovery jog and ready to hit my first official easy cut back week before a 3 week trip to the St Foy, in the French Alps on Friday 03rd.

Nutrition – Week 11 Summary

Zero carbohydrate diet for 3 days Monday 4g, Tuesday 14g and Wednesday 4g carbs. (Bloody meatballs on Wednesday 10g carbs, note to self ready the label better). Then loading for Thursday to Saturday with a plan to try and hit 680g carbs on Saturday as a test following 500g pre Manchester. I have decided that the increase was not beneficial and on the Saturday and Sunday didn’t feel as good as the lower load for Manchester, this was a good exercise for planning for Comrades.

Race day Nutrition

Plan was following the same strategy, however once I switched to Comrades effort I also stopped fuelling for the run, so after the 10 mile gel I took no further nutrition, also I didn’t take on any water during the run.